ABSTRACT
Primary care is designated by governments and with different degrees of design or default, as the responsibility of significant others. In respect of relationships the advance of franchised outreach primary care organisations, however, offers very mixed blessings. The chapter describes model of primary care which is flourishing in a part of the world which, as a result of globalisation, is advancing rapidly in terms of economic growth and political influence. Its community health services reflect the prevalent East Asian philosophy: low cost and high-turnover production, inexpensive labour, unregulated and non-unionised, and consumer driven. It is a philosophy that in both economic and social policy terms can prove attractive elsewhere. The only area for an enhanced relationship dividend is that with new partners. The contracting out of primary care relies on others to respond and, if necessary, to replace past health service providers.
